When you build a website one item that is rarely thought about is the conversion rate of your online forms. You can see in your Google Analytics or other analytics program that people go to a specific page. But how do they use that page once they are there? Standard analytics products will not give you that valuable information. You are up to guessing and "assuming" what your visitors are doing. With form analytics you can see clearly how long a user is using each individual field of a given field on a form, where they abandon, and how long they are on each individual field.
At the start of every month we look at the page and form results of every client that uses our form analytics product. With these analytics we can see how visitors are using each form on a site. This information is truly valuable as it allows us to make adjustments to improve how a form works on each page.
Abandonment
Abandonment issues on a form is one of the worst things that happens to any form. Site users without this knowledge know nothing about why a user is leaving. With form analytics you can determine which field(s) are causing the abandonment. A person reaches your page, starts to fill out the information, and before submitting the form just ups and leaves. This could be there browser crashed, they had a phone call and had to leave, but what happens if it's a specific field that causes everyone to leave? How would you know that information? Is the captcha on your form broken and preventing users from submitting your form after filling out all of that requested information? With this information you can improve your user interface and convert more of your visitors on your site and receive the information and increase the conversion on your website.
Time to Start
From the time someone enters a page the system is calculating and determining what a user is doing. How long does it take for a visitor to start entering information into the first field on your page. This is valuable information. If your field is at the very top and takes minutes the question you need to ask is why. Is the form low on your page causing someone to read the entire story before they start filling in information? How would you know this informaton if you couldn't dig into the analytics of the form? With the Time to Start functionality you can clearly see how long it is taking for each form.
Field Time
Certain fields can be entered quickly, like your name. Other fields can take longer. Do you know how long someone is spending in each field? The time to start covered how long it took to reach each field. The field time takes it up to the next level and tells you how long someone spends in each individual field.
Order
You may have field 1, field 2, field 3, and a submit form button. Are your users going from field 1, to 2, to 3, and then submitting your form or are they using a completely different order? If the order is not user friiendly and users are clicking around to fill out the form it may be time to change the ordering of your fields.Repeat Fields
Are certain fields repeatitive that could be eliminated? A repeated field is one that users put the same answer into. Fields that have the same answer may be duplicated questions and may be able to be removed shortening your questions and increasing your form conversion rate.
Conclusion
Form many people a form is just that; a form. To us it is a mechanism to increase your visitor interactions with you and hopefully drive revenue to your bottom line. By looking at the results of each form you can determine where adjustments are needed. A form today may be working like you expect. How is it working six months from now? As we all know the technology of the internet is constantly changing and evolviing. Are you updating your site for your users or just waiting until after you hear enough complaints. By being proactive you can stay more in touch with how your users are using your site and how you can convert more visitors into customers.
If this seems overwhelming have no fear (no not the Under Dog quote). We work with you and remove the complexities of the web for you. From our Valparaiso Indiana office we have a team of dedicated individuals who all have your business success in mind. Let JM2 help you out. You can reach us at 855-456-2660, email us at @BUSINESSEMAILADDRESS@, or our contact form here.
